Erika and Michael: The Movie
Erika and Michael: The Movie is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated adventure musical comedy-drama produced by Xtranormal Animation Studios and Xtranormal Films with distribution by Everest Pictures. Produced and directed by Rich Moore, the film stars the voices of Selena Gomez, Kyle Massey, Ian McKellen, Owen Wilson, Eddie Redmayne, Jesse Eisenberg, Joan Cusack, Jessica Alba, and Roger Moore. Erika and Michael: The Movie premiered February 19, 2010 at the Dolby Theatre and was released in the United States on March 9, 2010, in 3D, IMAX, and IMAX 3D formats to critical acclaim and grossed $890.4 million worldwide on its $200 million budget. Plot Coming soon! Voice cast Coming soon! Production Development The idea of Erika and Michael was originally conceived by animators Geo G.and Michael Wildshill in the 1980s while working at Hanna-Barbera before their newly-formed animation studio Geo G. Productions was separated from Hanna-Barbera and renamed as Gingo Animation in 1988; they always wanted to realize their dream of producing an animated feature-length film. Geo then came up with the story of the film, which was about a boy who attempts to save his world from losing its colors. After the success of Gingo's short film The Special Visitor in 1989, the studio was approached by Universal Studios to produce an animated feature film that would become Paint World, an offer which the founders immediately accepted. The deal was settled in May 1989, and Geo and Wildshill, along with fellow Gingo animator Audel LaRoque, began working on the script of Erika and Michael: The Movie, which was to be directed by Geo in his feature-length directorial debut. The original draft was completely different from the final version of the film. Gingo approved of the film's script and pre-production for Paint World started, set for a Thanksgiving 1991 release date. The studio then looked for actors to be cast in the film. In late 1989, the Gingo staff flew to production of the 1990 film Back to the Future Part III to discuss the part of Michael with Michael J. Fox. Scott Weinger, known for his role as the title character of the 1992 Disneyanimated film Aladdin, was also being reportedly considered for the role of Splat. Wildshill's choices for the other characters included Jim Carrey, Bill Murray and Kate Winslet. However, development for Erika and Michael was stalled in February 1990 when Universal and Gingo became concerned over the upcoming release of the 1991 animated films, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Universal's another animated film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (which were both released on the same day). Gingo abandoned Erika and Michael''in March 1990 after the studio had already designed six months worth pre-production and Universal had left the project. The studio then decided to start work on other projects, such as the short film ''http://gingo.wikia.com/wiki/Spot Spot and the television series Gabriel Garza] to be aired on CBS in 1991. With the success of Gabriel Garza, Gingo began concerning their interest in restarting development on Paint World in late 1994. The following year, Gingo revived the project and the staff brought The Lion King writer Irene Mecchi on to help rewrite their 1989 script with additional input from Thomas Lennonand David Silverman. As Geo was busy on other projects at the time, writer LaRoque was selected to direct the film in his directorial debut. Universal then returned to the film in 1996 and secured Gingo's first animated feature with the film. However, the film was completely dropped from both studios due to creative differences. 3 years later, in 1999, after the release of Paint World by Gingo Animation, rival company Xtranormal Animation Studios decided to pick up the film after CEO Michael Racks decided that the film would be beneficial to their company. The studio then started work on the film in 2003 after the film was approved by staff. Casting At first, casting for the film was extremely difficult as actors who were considered for Erika such as Joan Cusack, April Winchell, Ellen DeGeneres, and Madonna were unavailable or denied as well as actors for Michael such as Bruce Willis, Justin Timberlake, Ashton Kutcher, and James Arnold Taylor. Eventually, production of the film was put on hiatus because of the failure of finding a cast. In 2007, the cast of the main characters was finally found with young actors with the voices of Erika and Michael being Selena Gomez and Kyle Massey who are both known Disney Channel actors. Other people cast in the voice cast included Ian McKellen as Joe Watson, the main antagonist, Owen Wilson as Roger Killson, the older cousin of Erika, Eddie Redmayne as Helda Smith, the British upperclass assistant to Joe Watson, Jesse Eisenberg, as Bobert, the whiny brat and 15 year old boy who lives next door, Joan Cusack as Abby Wilson, the snitch of the neighborhood, Jessica Alba as Manny Johnson, and Roger Moore as Grandpa Jack. Animation The animation was provided by Xtranormal Animation under the leadership of animation director Jenny Ronson, as the film was animated in-house at the studio's main headquarters in North Hollywood. Additional animation was done overseas at AKOM Production Co. in Korea, Wang Film Productions/Cuckoo's Nest Studio in Taiwan, Bardel Animation in Canada, and Fil-Cartoons in the Philippines. Soundtrack Coming soon! Release Coming soon! Marketing The voice cast appeared at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con International to announce the movie and present a clip highlighting traditionally-animated films, along with footage from Erika and Michael: The Movie ''done entirely in storyboards. The footage, which was screened exclusively for the panel, received strong audience reaction with traditional/flash animation fans "literally jumping on the floor once the footage played." In June 2008, The first clip was released on YouTube for one day only. At the Everest Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2009, "unfinished and unseen footage" was seen, revealing that the film will focus on Erika and Michael. On March 18, 2009, the first poster was released. Trailers * The teaser trailer was released via Everest Pictures' YouTube channel on March 18, 2009, and was shown before ''Monsters vs. Aliens, Hannah Montana: The Movie, The 10 Feet, Geoshea Theft Auto, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, ''and ''Up. * The first official trailer was released on June 28, 2009, and was shown before Ice Age; Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Aliens in the Attic, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and Where the Wild Things Are. * The second official trailer was released on October 16, 2009, and was shown before Planet 51, The Pandemoniums Movie, Old Dogs, The Princess and the Frog, and Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. Video Game Main article: Erika and Michael: The Video Game A video game based on the film titled Erika and Michael: The Video Game, ''was released on March 2, 2010 for the Xbox 360, Windows, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS. '' Home media ''Erika and Michael: The Movie ''was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 13, 2010. Special features included behind the scenes, deleted scenes, bloopers, concept art, the music video of "Let's Go Universe", and an exclusively extended directors cut that includes scenes not shown theatrically, including the deleted scenes. The releases include two animated short films, ''Erika to the Rescue! ''and ''Michael's School Rush. ''A Walmart exclusive Blu-ray/DVD combo pack included two limited edition Erika and Michael toys. Reception Box office ''Erika and Michael: The Movie grossed $206.1 million in the United States and Canada and $684.3 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $890.4 million against a budget of $200 million. Worldwide, it is the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2010, the second highest animated film of 2010 (placing second among animated films behind only ''Toy Story 3''), the fourth highest-grossing original film (behind [[Boing!|''Boing!]], [http://gingo.wikia.com/wiki/Paradoria ''Paradoria], and ''Avatar''), the seventh-highest-grossing animated film, and the highest-grossing 2010 film released by Everest as well as the highest grossing Everest animated film of 2010. Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $179.2 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues, making it the third most profitable release of 2010. North America Coming soon! Outside North America Coming soon! Critical reaction My reaction, 93% Accolades Coming soon! Franchise Due to the huge success of Erika and Michael: The Movie, the movie later spawned a huge franchise with two sequels released in 2013 and 2016 respectively, a currently airing animated series, a television special, a web series, and an upcoming spin-off film to be released in 2019. Sequels Coming soon! Animated series A series titled Erika and Michael Adventures ''originally aired on NBC under the NBC Kids block from July 7, 2012 until the block closed on September 25, 2016 later moving to PBS Kids starting on October 10, 2016 and aired there ever since. Television special ''Coming soon! Netflix spin-off animated series Coming soon! Transcripts Main To see the main transcript of the film, click here. Trailers To see the transcript for the trailers of the film, click here. Category:Everest Pictures films Category:Xtranormal Animation Studios films Category:Xtranormal Films Category:2010 films Category:RealD 3D Category:Digital 3D Category:IMAX DMR Category:IMAX 3D Category:IMAX Digital 2D